The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-04-05
A STRANGE STORY OF CRIME.

certain
benches are conrented.
A STRANGE STORY OF CRIME.
The Murder of Sarah Graham and Mrs.
Moiloy's Relation Thereto.
There is a difference of opinion in Vancouver.
w. T.. as to the moral outfit. so to speak. Of
Mrs Emma Molloy, noted evangelist, who is
conducting revival meetings in that region. and
incidentally saying good word for temperance
and woman suffrage. The Vancouver CORE
spondent Of the Portland Oregcnian recently
expressed some doubt as to her qualifications for
religious work. whereupon the Rev. JohnsR.
Thompson, Of the Presbyterian Church in Van
couver, and the Rev. j. III. Skidmore of tho
Methodist Church there. FASTENED to defend
her, and to declare in the Oregonian that "99
per cent OF the Christian people OF Vancouver
agreed with them about this evangelists per
feet innocence of any crime against God or
man." Then the correspondents ventured to
direct attention to the record of certain court
proceedings in Missouri.
The name of Mrs. Emma Molloy recalls one of
the most shocking crimes ever committed in the
West-a crime for which her foster daughter
now awaits trial. and for which her former asso-
ciate in religious work, George e. Graham. was
hanged by mob one year ago. It is curious
fact that in no part of the country are religious
professions and simulated religious fervor more
effectively used as cloak for atrocous criminal
tendencies and acts than in southern Missouri
One of the leaders of the Infamous band Of
thugs called Bald Knobbers is q Baptist preach
err. and several of his fellow-assassins are mem
bers OF his church. 1t was in southern Mis-
souri, that Sarah Graham was murdered in Sep
TENDER, 1885, and on Mrs. Molloy's farm.
George h. Graham, one of Mrs. Moloy's ssso-
Gates had served two terms. one of Ave years,
and the other OF two, in the Indiana State peni-
tertiary. During his first term his wife, Sarah.
procured divorce from him. In 1878. after his
release. as her relatives testify, the two were
married again. Before that reunion he sought
10 Oh eli
to me-" she wrote in letter which appears to
have been published by her counsel. ''for was
the only one to whom he could pour out his
heart He talked to me about his wife and
children In Fort Wayne" After the reunion the
Grahams lived with Mrs. Moloy and her foster
daughter, Cora Lee. Mrs Molloy, then, now.
an evangelist was connected with paper called
the Morning and Day of Reform She bought this
paper in order that Graham might be employed
as its business manager, and the entire party
moved to little town in northern Kansas Por-
tons of the letter to which we have referred are
| published in the Oregonian. In it Mrs Molloy
| says: I'VE had Mrs. Sarah Graham and her
| two children in the family with US, making nine
| in all. to be supported by my earnings Finally
the paper failed sent George and his family
| back to Fort Wayne He was at Fort Wayne
| but little while when he wrote to me for help
He and Cora, my oldest foster daughter, had
| been associated together in the Office and had
| grown fond of each other, so much SO that when
George left TO go back to Fort Wayne her life
was despaired of But her love for him was as
pure and true angels"
It appears that Mrs. Graham, convinced that
her husband was unfaithful, manned with her
| relatives in Indiana, and that Graham continued
to be associated with Mrs. Molloy anc her daugh-
| ter. In 1885 the> evangelists were at work in
| Missouri and Kansas, and their headquarters
were at farm, owned by Mrs Molloy, five miles
| from Springfield, Mo. On July IS, 1885. Ora
| ham was married to Cora Lee ir Springfield. A
few months later the original Mrs Graham dis
! appeared. She had last been in Spring
field. to which place she had come from Fort
| Wayne on Sept. 80, 1885, with her children.
| Graham had met her at st. Louis. and his son
field Graham and his wife left the children at
| hotel Graham saying that the mother would
walk with him to the Molloy farm.
That was Sarah Graham's last journey. She
| was murdered that night on the road to the Mol
10y farm. Four months later. after Graham had
been arrested for bigamy, her friends began to
| look for her. Her body was found in an old
well on the Molloy farm. A coroner's jury
found that her husband had killed hor, and that
Emma Molloy and Cora Lee were accessories.
IT the end of the preliminary examination the
court held that Cora Lee was accessory be-
fore the fact, and that Mrs. Molloy was an ac-
cessory after the fact, and the latter was held
in $1,000 to await the action of the grand jury.
Graham confessed his guilt, and undertook to
protect the two women. But he declared that
he had killed his wife with knife, while an ex-
animation showed that she had been shot The
| theory of the prosecution that Cora
Lee was his partner in the crime.
and it was shown that on the
night when the Graham party arrived in
Springfield Cora Lee left tho farm in buggy,
and that Graham and two women were seen
that evening in a Springfield restaurant On
the following morning the children were taken
to the farm, and were told that their mother
had gone to the Pacific coast. The testimony OF
the boy. Charles Graham, thirteen years old,
was important Both Cora and Mrs. Molloy
had told him. he said, that his mother had gone
West, and that he must say that he had las,
seen her in St Louis. A sign board was set w
on the farm. the old well, Immediately
after the murder, warning off all trespassers.
For three months while Sarah Grahams- body
was lying there, Mrs. Mooy. Cora and Graham
are said to have passed the spot daily coming
from and going to the scene of their religious
labors, which are said to have caused the con-
version Of hundreds of persons.
| Graham was taken from the county Jail on
April 81, 1856, and hanged by lynchne party.
At last accounts Cora Lee was still in jail In
June last the indictments against Mrs. Molloy
were quashed, and she resumed her religious
work. The Oregonian republshes part oil
| Charles Grahams testimony. to the effect thai
his father lived in adultery with both Cora Lee
and Mrs. Molloy in Kansas, even before Mrs
| Graham departed for Indiana. and also at thu
farm in Missouri, after Mrs. Graham had been
| murdered.
Even if it should be conclusively shown tina,
Mrs Molloy had no knowledge of the murder
and it seems to be admitted that the evidenc,
does not warrant her prosecution-shs facts tent
to prove that she is not we'll fitted for the werl
Of a revivalist If it be claimed that Graham dir
not remarry his first wife. it follows that he wa
living with her in violation of the laws of Go,
and man while in Mrs. Molloy's house in Kansas
and with Mrs. Molloys consent, and while Mrs
Molloy was conscious of her daughters CROWN,
love for him. On the other hand, if Graham dit
remarry his first wife, now can Mrs. Molloy de
fend her course in sanctioning her daughter
bigamous marriage? But if Charles Graham'
testimony was true it overshadows such ques
tons as these.
UNREASONABLE DEMOCRATS.